This invention relates to a brush for collecting cells for examination by brushing or rubbing a portion of a coeloma to be inspected, and more particularly to a brush which includes a flexible brush-attaching portion to allow the insertion of the brush into an area to be inspected and which allows replacement of the brush tip.
In the prior art brushes of this type as shown in FIG. 1, upon attaching a brush member in the tip portion of a flexible wire-winding, a twisted wire root portion 3 of a brush member 2 mounting hairy fibers 1 is inserted into a tip portion of a flexible wire-winding 4, and thereafter brazing is applied to the inserted portion to thereby rigidly secure the brush member 2 to the wire-winding 4. As a result, the tip portion of the flexible wire-winding 4 into which the root portion 3 is inserted loses its flexibility due to the brazing treatment. Thus, when a brush-inserting passage such as a bronchus has a sharp bend, in the course of inserting the brush up to an area to be inspected, difficulty and discomfort results which may prevent the full insertion of the brush into the bronchus, or into a deeper area. In addition, with brushes of this type the hairy fibers soon lose their ridigity, and hence premature loss of their function results. Further, with this prior art arrangement the brush member 3 cannot be removed for replacement due to the brazing, so that the entire brush has to be discarded even though other portions of the brush are free from damage.